Notes / Commercial Description:
In this year’s edition we took our inspiration from two Belgian styles: Saisons and Golden Triples. As such, the Stone 07.07.07 Vertical Epic has a deep, deep golden hue and the flavor is spicy, fruity, complex and refreshing. We used four different malts, and a subtle, yet distinct, blend of Glacier and Crystal hops to get just the right balance. Then, for the complexity, we added in some exotic spices --- including ginger, cardamom, grapefruit peel, lemon peel and orange peel (the latter three acknowledging our Southern California home) --- and a special Belgian yeast strain. All in all this is yet another case of us drawing from classic Belgian influences and cavalierly making it our own...San Diego style!

I think this is one of the best, if not the best, fresh Vertical Epics that Stone has put out.

Pours a clear golden orange color. There's a thin white head that fades quickly to a fine sheet. Very light lacing remains.

Aroma is very nice blend of green apples, yeast, spices, candied sugars, and some citrus. I couldn't wait to dive into this one.

The flavor is almost as good as the smell. Spicy coriander, green apple, yeasty funk, just all of these great flavors melding together. Wonder if this will improve with age?

Spot on mouthfeel thats nicely carbonated. Only a very slight alcohol burn at the finish. This is a great choice for this very warm evening. I only have nine left from my case...I'm curious to see how long they last. I'll save at least one for each of the next five years.

Color of honey. Even with an agitated pour, the head is not very impressive, and becomes paper thin within 30 seconds. Beer clean glassware? I try. Aroma of alcohol, grapefruit, and possibly some mysterious botanicals. Flavor is fairly balanced between a tripel and saison. Mouthfeel is a little thin for the style. I wonder about the reviews this beer would get if it came in a bottle that said...oh, Blue Moon I guess. I wouldn't advise aging this until 2012. maybe 2010. The 4.4.04 tasted similar upon its release, but became awesome by the winter of 05/06, so maybe I'll buy three or four and have one every six months.

22 oz bomber thanks to my first trade with Redwood21. Served this puppy up in a snifter and I hope it hasn't experienced any negative effects since I forgot it was there.

A: Pours a pretty nice orange honey color. Held to light it has a lot more orange character to it. The intial pour yielded a nice cream colored finger of head. The head diminishes rather quickly to a thin ring that rests on top. The ring does produce some decent lacing.

S: Whoa. At first smell I get a ton of brandy type smells coming out. Really knock you on your ass, brandy. As it warms, this smell subtles out. Some really nice pickled ginger comes out later along with some anise seed? Very interesting. There is also a nice malt presence that has a touch of orange sweetness mingling in there.

T: Wow we put some ginger in here did we Stone? Lots of crazy ginger flavor coming out here. Then comes some nice orange and grapefruit flavors that I imagine are the hops presence. Still nicely sweet and enjoyable. The malt is thick and just the right amount of sweetness coming from there. There is also just a spice rack of spices going on here and it seems that a different flavor comes out from each sip. Other notable tastes are clove, yeast, and mint. Nice.

M: Pretty nice medium bodied brew on the heavy side. This brew has some decent sticky qualities to it. ABV is light in the feel, lighter than the nose would lea you to believe. The aftertaste is mostly some nice citrus fruit and sweet malty goodness. Carbonation is medium but this is not exactly crisp.

D: This brew is pretty nice. It has its high points and low points in each category. Overall, I would say this was enjoyable but it wasn't all that easy of drinker. Not bad and sure as hell solid.

07.07.07 was the first of the Vertical Epic series I tasted and I did not really care for it. I have had the red wine barrel, and it was not very good either. So coming up on three years later here it goes again. This one pours dark orange, bit of suspended sediment, not too big of a hard though some decent lace on the sides. In the aroma the ginger comes through wonderfully with a bit of cardamom, honey, and spicy clovelike notes. The flavor is ripe with ginger, candi sugar, brown sugar, and a spicy orange and cookielike malt finish. The flavor has plenty of ginger, with some Belgian sugar, then cardamom and lots of bready cookie malts on the finish. The spices have finally came out on this beer instead of being dominated by the Belgian yeast and it has improved. Medium to full body with matching carbonation, still doesn't quite feel natural even if it is bottle conditioned. This one has slowly improved, but it still isn't too much of a drinker for me.

O: Wow! That's the best beer I've had in a while. My expectations were a little tempered by other reviews, but this was totally delicious!! Obviously, this aged well. Well worth the 8.5 year wait. Since noone has reviewed this in 1.5 years, it seems like many just couldn't wait this long...too bad.

pours a nice dark golden color (if that makes sense!) with a white head that shrinks quickly but doesn't go all the way away. smells like a sweet belgian tripel to me. i'm not getting very much saison, but i do smell farmhousy, peppery when i take my time and let this thing warm up a little. grapefruit and orange for sure, a little banana. tastes like it smells, but even more comes through. pretty complex. a lot going on, and i will enjoy seeing how this tastes in abuot a year or so. medium body and nice carbonation. you could fool me in a blind taste test with this one. i might actually think it was belgian.

A- Thick tan head on a crystal clear dark orange body. Very little lacing left and head retention wasn't to good.
S- It really smells like what you would imagine a triple mixed with a saison would smell like. A nice size banana mixed with spices and yeast. Grass hops and light cloves, hints of some other fruits like maybe a tiny bit of pineapple and pear? Also alcohol is noticed too.
T- Again the flavor is like the two mixed. You get a banana blended about equally with the saison style of yeast and the spices. Alcohol is noticeable, maybe a little to much on the tongue. Some other fruits make there way in there also with a few other spices. The more I sip on it the better it gets. A dry hop bitterness slowly builds up on tongue.
M- Full/medium body with low/medium carbonation.
D- The more I am drinking the more I like it. I think it may be a tad to hot right now but maybe in about 6 months it will be tasting better. I think it might actually age well unlike some others think. I can see the flavors blending together a bit more and the alcohol not being as hot. Can't wait to find out.

Crystal clear with a 1 finger white head that dissipates quickly leaving no lacing. Small carbonation buttles rise from the center of my oversized wine glass with the occasional larger bubble rising from offcenter. The second glass was a translucent murky orange-brown.

The aroma of bright citrus wafts from the bottle, and after a hard pour, a very yeasty start--like proofing yeast for bread. This was followed quickly by some light metallics, then bubblegum, before morphing into overripe citrus, and finally apple in the end. Spicy Belgian yeast carries throughout.

The taste is almost vinuous at first. Rather dry with some tart citrus. Cardomom is eviedent, and the bite of ginger as well. The second glass tasted much sweeter on the first swallow, but settled down immediately. The saisson parentage is indicated by a definite earthiness. The bitterness of citrus peel was present here also.

Rather light in the first glass, with a nice bite of carbonation/ginger. By the second glas, the carbonation was gone...the bite was all ginger, and the feel was thicker. Oddly, the first glass seemed to leave more of a syrupy feel on the tongue. Very warming.

The carbonation was a bit light, and not surprisingly. The beer is over 5 1/2 years old. Still, it's held up well. It's very tasty and satisfying. Worthy of another purchase. But alas, it was only brewed once. I'll have to resort to the homebrew version.

S: Smells fruity and spicy. A bit of apple and pear mixed with some sage, a bit of ginger and maybe some pepper. Perhaps a little saison-like hay character as well.

T: Sweet throughout. Spicy and fruity again, with some drying alcohol in the back end. Sage plays the biggest spice role, again mixed with a bit of apple. Saison-like hay is more noticeable in the taste.

M/D: Very nice mouthfeel. Medium to full bodied, carbonation is just right. Body might be a bit too slick for my liking, but that is nit-picking. Excellent drinkability. Overall, a very excellent bear.

Golden color with a tint of red. Fine bubbled head that drops to a thin lacing cap. Smell is spicey and drifts slightly to a alcohol note as it warms. This isn't necessary bad, but there is no hiding that this one has some kick to it. Taste somehow comes accross as somewhat bland, some spice, sugar sweetness, with an alcohol finish. Medium bodied mouthfeel. Not an overly drinkable beer. I bought a case of these when it first came out and i still have 9 left. It's mellowed somewhat over time but I'm hoping a little more aging improves this one some more. I'm a huge fan of Stone but this one has to be my least favorite of their offerings to date.

Poured from a 22oz bomber into my New Belgium globe glass. Reviewed on 7/7/07.

A: Pours a deep golden amber color. Not a lot of head and it recedes quickly.

S: Lots of great smells; fruit, spices, and yeast.

T: This thing is like a tripel on steroids. Lots of fruit up front in the form of grapefruit, orange, and apricot. The spices are up next; lots of citrus peel and more prominent spices. All of the tripel flavors that you would typically find but in typical Stone style, they are more amplified. Very flavorful and complex yet at the same time it's still refreshing.

M: Full bodied, a bit thick, light carbonation.

D: I enjoyed the hell out of this beer. I've got another bottle that I'm going to age until 12/12/12 and I'm very interested to see how this thing will change with time. I sure did like it fresh. It's very flavorful and delicious. Another excellent brew from Stone.

I was happy to find this one on a road trip but it ended up being a bit of a disappointment. Pours a clear, bright orange color with a thin white head. Aroma is a bit stingy with oranges, perfume and an assortment of spices. The mouthfeel on this is very tart, tangy and slightly dry. The strongest flavors are oranges and coriander, with lots of spices (ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg), some lemon, and light fragrant hopping thrown in there. Interesting but the flavors just don't work for me. Halfway through the bomber I was sick of it. Not an awful beer but it is the worst Stone product I have had so far. Maybe I should have waited until "sometime after December 12th, 2012."

Pours a deep orange almost brown with a off white head that disipates leaving no collar or lacing. The beer has a sweet fruity floral aroma with some slight booziness in the background. Fruit nose is of sweet cherries. I never would have guessed this was from Stone if I were to close my eyes, but have thought it was a Belgian import. It's a very pleasing and enjoyable scent. First sip was a little nondescript and thus I let it warm some more. After warming the fruity flavors come through although no with as much strength as in the nose. It's well balanced and finishes up with a slight hop bitterness and spiciness. Mouthfeel is light to medium with good carbonation. Highly drinkable given the abv and to style.

I'm not sure if I was expecting less from this one because some people were disappointed when comparing it to the previous vertical epics, but this was highly enjoyable.